Mother: Soldier talked about killing sick son

The wife of a man charged with murdering the couple's terminally-ill son fought back tears today as she told a court how the former SAS soldier had talked about killing the youngster.

Fighting back tears, Mary Wragg was speaking at the trial of her husband, Andrew Wragg, who denies suffocating 10-year-old Jacob with a pillow last July.

The boy was suffering from a severe form of the degenerative disease Hunter Syndrome when he was killed by Wragg at the family home in Worthing, West Sussex.

Wragg denies murder but on the first day of the trial admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Wearing a lock of hair believed to be Jacob's and holding pictures of the tragic boy and a child's dummy, Mrs Wragg, 41, told how the defendant once said he would put a pillow over his son's face if he was suffering too much.

Mrs Wragg told Lewes Crown Court of the occasion when Jacob was in hospital in Manchester and she and Wragg, 37, were talking to the mother of another sick child.

She said: "I was asking her about her daughter and how she was coping with caring for her. I was holding her hand.

"I was very keen to find out about caring as I had no knowledge. Andy was there and it led to a chat about caring.

"The woman said she wished they would leave her daughter alone because she felt she was suffering unnecessarily and that they were keeping her alive unnecessarily.

"I clearly remember Andy saying that if he thought Jacob was suffering he would put a pillow over his face."

'For the best'

Mrs Wragg also told of how the defendant said the couple had been right to terminate another child at seven months who was found to be carrying the disease.

She said: "I remember getting very upset because the discussion used to be that it was for the best. It came up several times in conversation with friends and with Andy.

"I felt it was something he said to deal with the difficulty of the situation and the fact that he felt powerless to be able to provide an answer or a solution to the problem."

She said: "I did not agree. My attitude was to get on with caring for Jacob and to make the most of what we had."

Mrs Wragg told how Jacob was "happy and lively" on the day he was killed, July 24 last year.

She told the jury he had a good appetite and was not suffering from a cough or cold, conditions which regularly plagued the youngster.

She told how she met Wragg 16 years ago in Worthing while he was in the Merchant Navy and she was working in pub management for Whitbread.

She said the couple moved to London when Wragg left the Merchant Navy to take a job with his uncle's security firm in the capital. Previously the defendant's work had meant the pair spent many months apart.

Due to money problems, Mrs Wragg left a successful job with an electronics firm and the couple moved to work and live at a pub in Colchester, Essex, a garrison town where Wragg later joined the Army.

The court heard how the pair wed to qualify for married quarters in the Army.

Wragg was later posted to North Yorkshire but left his new wife behind as she needed treatment for a kidney disorder.

When Jacob was born on November 23, 1993, Wragg was undergoing training to become a member of the SAS in Hereford.

The court heard how the birth was normal but that the youngster began to have monthly coughs and colds for which he was later sent for tests.

Relationship began to fall apart

Mrs Wragg told of the traumatic moment when, again on her own without her husband, doctors informed her that Jacob was suffering with one of five severe degenerative conditions.

Wragg took leave from the Army to join his wife as it became clear that Jacob would not live beyond his 20s and would become deaf, dumb and blind.

To add to the tragedy the couple then discovered that Mrs Wragg's unborn child was also carrying the disease.

Mrs Wragg said she found it hard to discuss the situation with her husband.

She told the court: "I was advised that, because of the care that Jacob would need, I should not have a second child. At seven months we decided on a termination. We called the child Henry and we were allowed to have a funeral."

The court heard how, after the abortion, the couple's relationship began to fall apart.

Mrs Wragg said the defendant lost his SAS badge following "an incident" in Harrogate.

He was discharged from the SAS, given a year's paid leave and told he could reapply for his position. However, the defendant left the Army altogether and took a job in Northampton.

'Not tolerant of family things'

At the same time, Mrs Wragg left the married quarters and moved to Worthing to be nearer her husband's family.

It was from Worthing that Mrs Wragg regularly drove Jacob on her own to the Royal Manchester Hospital where he underwent several tests and operations.

Mrs Wragg said that, on a few occasions, her estranged husband, who did not move with her to Worthing, did travel to Manchester but found the situation unbearable.

She said: "At times Andy did come to Manchester but he got very stressed out. He got very cross with the doctors and nurses if they were not doing things in a certain way.

"He just disliked hospitals and ill people, the whole thing. He chose not to come. Mostly it was me driving Jacob up and down to Manchester."

The court heard how the pair's relationship had become almost non-existent at that stage.

She said: "It was down to him as and when he felt like visiting us. I could not say I could call on him to provide childcare or financial support.

"He did take Jacob swimming sometimes but he was not very tolerant of doing family things together."